false 2507738 2 Bad food has a history. <i>Swindled</i> tells it. Through a fascinating mixture of cultural and scientific history, food politics, and culinary detective work, Bee Wilson uncovers the many ways swindlers have cheapened, falsified, and even poisoned our food throughout history. In the hands of people and corporations who have prized profits above the health of consumers, food and drink have been tampered with in often horrifying ways -- padded, diluted, contaminated, substituted, mislabeled, misnamed, or otherwise faked. Swindled gives a panoramic view of this history, from the leaded wine of the ancient Romans to today's food frauds -- such as fake organics and the scandal of Chinese babies being fed bogus milk powder. Wilson pays special attention to nineteenth- and twentieth-century America and England and their roles in developing both industrial-scale food adulteration and the scientific ability to combat it. As <i>Swindled</i> reveals, modern science has both helped and hindered food fraudsters -- increasing the sophistication of scams but also the means to detect them. The big breakthrough came in Victorian England when a scientist first put food under the microscope and found that much of what was sold as genuine coffee was anything but -- and that you couldn't buy pure mustard in all of London. Arguing that industrialization, laissez-faire politics, and globalization have all hurt the quality of food, but also that food swindlers have always been helped by consumer ignorance, <i>Swindled</i> ultimately calls for both governments and individuals to be more vigilant. In fact, Wilson suggests, one of our best protections is simply to reeducate ourselves about the joys of food and cooking. 2515109 31 1 2008 Swindled: From Poison Sweets to Counterfeit Coffee - The Dark History of the Food Cheats total:31|5:5|4:15|3:9|2:2|1:0| 31 116 129 11 4 0 false false Mon Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Jun 16 13:01:49 -0700 2009 Tue Jun 16 13:10:54 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Sat Jul 11 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat Jul 11 19:10:43 -0700 2009 Sat Jul 11 19:18:50 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Mon Dec 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Fri Feb 13 10:33:56 -0800 2009 Fri Feb 13 10:33:56 -0800 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Mon Jul 20 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat Feb 28 09:06:37 -0800 2009 Tue Jul 21 14:42:33 -0700 2009
This book handles the idea of food tampering since the 1800s through now, from a scientific and historical point of view. The book discusses various methods o...more...]]> 5 0 false false Mon Apr 27 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Apr 20 03:45:25 -0700 2009 Mon Apr 27 13:12:03 -0700 2009 1 more...]]> 4 0 false false Wed Feb 18 21:37:37 -0800 2009 Wed Feb 18 21:39:02 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Sat Jul 18 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Jul 26 06:42:17 -0700 2009 Sun Jul 26 06:42:17 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Thu Jan 29 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Thu Jan 29 08:36:44 -0800 2009 Thu Jan 29 08:37:27 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Wed May 27 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu May 28 15:36:48 -0700 2009 Thu May 28 15:37:31 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Wed Nov 05 14:04:26 -0800 2008 Wed Nov 05 14:05:25 -0800 2008 The American Scientist.]]> 0 0 false false Fri Oct 24 11:38:42 -0700 2008 Fri Oct 24 11:39:06 -0700 2008 0 0 false false Sun Nov 22 21:23:01 -0800 2009 Sun Nov 22 21:23:01 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Tue Nov 17 23:03:18 -0800 2009 Sun Nov 15 06:48:08 -0800 2009 Tue Nov 17 23:03:18 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Wed Nov 11 09:30:22 -0800 2009 Wed Nov 11 09:30:22 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Tue Nov 10 05:13:19 -0800 2009 Tue Nov 10 05:13:19 -0800 2009 3 0 false false Fri Nov 13 07:29:35 -0800 2009 Sun Nov 08 05:49:30 -0800 2009 Sun Nov 08 05:49:30 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Mon Nov 02 15:21:43 -0800 2009 Mon Nov 02 15:21:43 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Tue Oct 27 13:21:30 -0700 2009 Tue Oct 27 13:21:30 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Mon Oct 12 15:48:01 -0700 2009 Sun Nov 01 17:39:09 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Mon Oct 12 06:24:35 -0700 2009 Mon Oct 12 06:24:45 -0700 2009 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=2507738